116 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: How to import emails from a .pst file into KMail
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description: >
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Using a tool called "readst" you can transfer emails from an Outlook
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account into any other email client, for example KMail.
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date: 2026-05-15T17:30:00+02:00
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draft: false
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# ShowLastmod: true
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scrolltotop: true
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images: []
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tags:
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- email
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- KDE
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- Linux
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---
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Here I describe how I imported an email archive from Outlook to KDE's
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[KMail][]. This turned out to be harder than expected.
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My machine is a Fedora 44 KDE box, but the procedure should be the same or at
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least very similar on other Linux systems.
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## Prerequisites
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Let's assume the following:
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1. An Outlook archive file named `archive.pst`.
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2. Inside this archive file: An email folder structure with first-level folders
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in the style of `MyFolder1`, `MyFolder2` etc. and subfolder
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`MyFolder1/MyFolder1Subfolder1` and so on.
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I use the venerable [readpst][] tool to extract folders and emails from the
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archive file. It's included in common Linux distributions, but at least on
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Fedora you don't install it directly, but rather the `libpst` package:
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```fish
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sudo dnf install libpst
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```
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```fish
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# dnf info libpst
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Updating and loading repositories:
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Repositories loaded.
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Installed packages
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Name : libpst
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Epoch : 0
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Version : 0.6.76
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Release : 28.fc44
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Architecture : x86_64
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Installed size : 192.7 KiB
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Source : libpst-0.6.76-28.fc44.src.rpm
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From repository : <unknown>
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Summary : Utilities to convert Outlook .pst files to other formats
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URL : http://www.five-ten-sg.com/libpst/
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License : GPL-2.0-or-later
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Description : The Libpst utilities include readpst which can convert email messages
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: to both mbox and MH mailbox formats, pst2ldif which can convert the
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: contacts to .ldif format for import into ldap databases, and pst2dii
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: which can convert email messages to the DII load file format used by
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: Summation.
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Vendor : Fedora Project
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```
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## Working solution as of 2026
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Modern [KMail] does not store emails in the traditional storage formats such
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as [Maildir] or [Mbox]. It uses KDE's Akonadi database system. Therefore,
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we need to first export all folders and emails from the Outlook data file,
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then import these into KMail's database using the `File > Import Messages...`
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command.
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At first, I struggled a bit to find the correct output format option to make
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it work. `readpst` offers a number of different formats -- basically various
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flavors of the [MH][]/[maildir][] and the [mbox][] structures. It did _not_ work
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with the `-k` option that is meant to produce a dedicated KMail format. I ended
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up using the simple `-e` option that produces a directory structure according
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to the folders in the Outlook archive, with one separate file for each email
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message.
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1. Export folders and emails from the Outlook data file:
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```fish
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readpst -e archive.pst
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```
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There is no need to create and specifiy a dedicated directory, because
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`readpst` will create a directory structure with a generic top-level
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directory (in German, this directory is called "Outlook-Datendatei",
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Outlook data file).
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2. Import the folder structure and emails into KMail:
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a. In the `File` menu, choose `Import Messages...`.
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b. In the Import dialog that appears, choose "Import KMail Maildirs and
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Folder Structure".
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{{< figure src="kmail-import-dialog.png" >}}
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c. At the bottom of the dialog where it says "Please select the folder to
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import to", click on the folder icon. Choose the existing "Local Folders".
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There is no need to create an extra folder for the import because KMail
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will create folder "KMail-Import" just for you.
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d. Click on "Next" and choose your `.pst` file.
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e. Start the import process.
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3. All imported messages are marked as unread at first, but this will go away
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after a while.
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[KMail]: https://apps.kde.org/kmail2
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[maildir]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir
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[MH]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MH_Message_Handling_System
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[mbox]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox
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[readpst]: https://www.five-ten-sg.com/libpst/rn01re01.html |